Sunday, December 06, 2015

Save the Children calls for an end to the use of explosive weapons in populated areas

Yemen now has the highest number of casualties owing to explosive weapons in the world, following Syria

At least three children are being killed every day in Yemen, many of them as a direct result of the use of wide-range explosive weapons in villages, towns and cities, according to international children’s charity, Save the Children.

Their new briefing, Nowhere safe for Yemen’s children: The deadly impact of explosive weapons in Yemen,reveals that children are being bombarded daily by intensive airstrikes, shelling and rocket attacks. It is calling for civilians to be protected and for all international parties to agree to an immediate ceasefire as well as providing high-level support to UN efforts to find a political solution to the conflict.

More than 1,500 children have been killed or injured since violence escalated in March according to the UN, with many of the deaths a direct result of explosive weapons such as missiles and large aircraft bombs, artillery shells, rockets, mortars, and improvised explosive devices (IEDs).

Yemen now has the highest number of casualties owing to explosive weapons in the world, following Syria.

The briefing includes a range of children’s voices who say they are terrified by the daily bombardment, including 15-year-old Zaid, whose brother was killed by an air strike while playing outside.

“As soon as I heard it I ran out of the house to look for him. I saw lots of people standing around the bodies and injured people. Then I saw that my brother was lying on the ground. He was missing his arm and his body was burnt,” he explains.

“Before my brother’s death I was not afraid. But now I stay at home all the time as I am too scared to be outside on the street.”

The impact of explosive weapons on children’s smaller, more delicate bodies is particularly severe and they often suffer complex injuries requiring specialist care and surgery.

“It’s bitterly ironic that the very health facilities needed to treat injured children have often been damaged or destroyed by explosive weapons themselves,” says Edward Santiago, country director of Save the Children in Yemen.

“Even when facilities survive, the combination of a de facto blockade on imports, insecurity and restrictions on humanitarian access means they do not have enough medical supplies and fuel to function properly. A shocking 600 hospitals have now shut due to shortages of supplies and staff or being damaged.”

The breakdown of Yemen’s health system means more than 14 million people are now without the basics like antibiotics and vaccines, and risk dying of preventable diseases like diarrhoea, pneumonia and malaria.

When heavy explosive weapons are used in populated areas like cities, towns and villages, they expose civilians to predictable and huge risk because of their devastating wide area effects. The UN Secretary-General and the President of the International Committee of the Red Cross in October issued a ‘joint warning’ that called on states to stop using heavy explosive weapons in populated areas.

Furthermore these weapons also have a ‘failure rate’ meaning that they could remain unexploded, only for children to pick them up or walk over them, causing loss of limbs or death.

Ten-year-old Mohammed says: “I was playing in the street and one of my friends found a strange thing on the ground. He took it and was playing with it when it started shooting fire. A few seconds later it exploded. We were all injured. People came to take us to hospital and later I found out that three of my friends had been killed, including my best friend. I was in the hospital for a long time and had to have many operations. Now I hate everyone who uses weapons.”

Save the Children’s partner organisation YEMAC (Yemen Executive Mine Action Centre) has already begun demining activities in the south, including warning children and their families about what unexploded weapons look like. Alongside mine awareness, Save the Children is also treating malnutrition and providing healthcare, clean water, and psychosocial support to children.

The charity is calling for an immediate ceasefire in Yemen. In the meantime, it is urging all parties to the conflict to stop using explosive weapons with wide-area effects in populated areas.

“The international community’s reluctance to publicly condemn the human cost of conflict in Yemen gives the impression that diplomatic relations and arms sales trump the lives of Yemen’s children,” Santiago adds.

“The world must not stand by while children are being bombed, it must demand that civilian lives and civilian facilities like hospitals are protected.”